[paintsplatter]

I was reading the thread about the CVT trannies in many Hondas but the Hybrid has supposedly something quite different.
Every test driver on Youtube who drove the CRV Hybrid commented on it being an unusual setup, but failed to explain how it operated.
Anyone want to chime in and educate me seeing as I'm a newbie Honda owner?

 

[BoostedV]

 

[metcalfjohn]

I still don’t understand why Honda chooses to market it as an “e-CVT.” Reviewers who don’t bother to learn about the product they’re reviewing seem to complain early and often about the CVT that the CR-V Hybrid doesn’t have.

 

[TheDarkKnight]

I still don’t understand why Honda chooses to market it as an “e-CVT.” Reviewers who don’t bother to learn about the product they’re reviewing seem to complain early and often about the CVT that the CR-V Hybrid doesn’t have.

Most auto-pseudo-journo's are so ingrained with trash from Germany, they dont know how to deal with Honda's engineering superiority.

 

[mrtn]

Most auto-pseudo-journo's are so ingrained with trash from Germany, they dont know how to deal with Honda's engineering superiority.

Dude, we need to get you a nice German automobile, this is not healthy

 

[JeffJo]

I still don’t understand why Honda chooses to market it as an “e-CVT.” Reviewers who don’t bother to learn about the product they’re reviewing seem to complain early and often about the CVT that the CR-V Hybrid doesn’t have.

It all depends on what you think a "transmission" is.

Technically, "transmission" is not a mechanical part, it is the action of transmitting power from one place to another, Every car must have a "transmission system" to send power to the wheels. But colloquially, the word has come to mean the mechanically part that allows the gear ratio of a mechanical system to be changed.

Except in Engine Drive, Honda's hybrids have an electrically-coupled transmission system. That is, the engine and the wheels are "coupled" by wires, and transmission is done with electrons.This is the "e" in "e-CVT." And while it is true that the rpm ratio varies continuously, that ratio has no significance whatsoever. So in the wider sense of the word, "eCVT" is correct.

I think that the problem is that spec sheets have a category labeled "transmission." Something has to be put there, and "eCVT" is correct. Unless you think it means a mechanical part. It already exists, for Toyota's system. But there it means "electronically controlled CVT," and it is a mechanical system that is also called a Powwer Split Device. There is a mechanical gear ratio, although it doesn't have quite the same meaning to performance. It is "controlled" by varying how the power is split between two electric motors.

So why are reviewers not bothered by Toyota's "CVT" as much as Honda's[1]? I think it is the fact that the Toyota has an alternate name. Honda would have done better to have provided either a similar alternate name, or called it something else entirely. Like a "vCVT", for "virtual CVT."

+++++
[1] Consumer Reports actually gives the Accord Hybrid's "transmission" only four out of five stars. Even though as an electrically driven car, it is perfect in every aspect that rating is supposed to judge.

 

[TheDarkKnight]

Dude, we need to get you a nice German automobile, this is not healthy

LOL

Conversely, I will agree to that when you strip these motoring writing clowns of the German cars they fawn over and give them a fleet of Honda's, Lexus' and Toyota's!! 👌 😁

 

[Charlie1960]

Dude, we need to get you a nice German automobile, this is not healthy

Or possibly, like me, he’s mentally scarred by the memories of previously owning a “nice” German automobile.

 

[TheDarkKnight]

Or possibly, like me, he’s mentally scarred by the memories of previously owning a “nice” German automobile.

🤣🤣🤣

Thankfully, never had the misfortune of ever owning German automobiles....but have seen the fall-out of their "quality" from relatives and friends.....the scarring is immense! 😲

 

[metcalfjohn]

It all depends on what you think a "transmission" is.

Technically, "transmission" is not a mechanical part, it is the action of transmitting power from one place to another, Every car must have a "transmission system" to send power to the wheels. But colloquially, the word has come to mean the mechanically part that allows the gear ratio of a mechanical system to be changed.

Except in Engine Drive, Honda's hybrids have an electrically-coupled transmission system. That is, the engine and the wheels are "coupled" by wires, and transmission is done with electrons.This is the "e" in "e-CVT." And while it is true that the rpm ratio varies continuously, that ratio has no significance whatsoever. So in the wider sense of the word, "eCVT" is correct.

I think that the problem is that spec sheets have a category labeled "transmission." Something has to be put there, and "eCVT" is correct. […]

So why are reviewers not bothered by Toyota's "CVT" as much as Honda's[1]? I think it is the fact that the Toyota has an alternate name. Honda would have done better to have provided either a similar alternate name, or called it something else entirely. Like a "vCVT", for "virtual CVT."

Honda choosing to call it an “e-CVT” in marketing materials — including spec sheets, which are more often feature lists in colloquial language than engineering/technical documents — is where I think the problem lies. The “vCVT” idea is a good idea because it indicates more clearly to a buyer that the method of power transmission differs from the CVT in the conventional CR-V model and from Toyota’s hybrid system. Even “electric transmission” (like in a locomotive) seems like it could accomplish this.

 

[JeffJo]

Anyone want to chime in and educate me seeing as I'm a newbie Honda owner?

This might be a quicker introduction. It's technically about the Accord, but everything is the same except AWD.

 

[joggernot]

Thank you JeffJo and BoostedV for those videos. Excellent for this old guy to follow to learn new systems.

 

[Schmullis]

I was reading the thread about the CVT trannies in many Hondas but the Hybrid has supposedly something quite different.
Every test driver on Youtube who drove the CRV Hybrid commented on it being an unusual setup, but failed to explain how it operated.
Anyone want to chime in and educate me seeing as I'm a newbie Honda owner?

It works very simply:
D - it drives forward
R - it goes backward
N - Transmission disengaged
P - Car doesn't move.

That's all you need to know!

 

[paintsplatter]

It works very simply:
D - it drives forward
R - it goes backward
N - Transmission disengaged
P - Car doesn't move.

That's all you need to know!

Ah but what about PRNDL?

PRNDL — why mess with it?

If the sequence of the shift pattern is standard, why are we trying to mess with it, Jim Kenzie asks.

www.thestar.com

 

[paintsplatter]

🤣🤣🤣

Thankfully, never had the misfortune of ever owning German automobiles....but have seen the fall-out of their "quality" from relatives and friends.....the scarring is immense! 😲

My former son-in-law bought a four year old Audi for some ridiculous price and had nothing but problems till he finally got rid of it.

 

[JeffJo]

I was reading the thread about the CVT trannies in many Hondas but the Hybrid has supposedly something quite different.
Every test driver on Youtube who drove the CRV Hybrid commented on it being an unusual setup, but failed to explain how it operated.
Anyone want to chime in and educate me seeing as I'm a newbie Honda owner?

Actually, from top to bottom it is:

• P - Car doesn't move
• R - When accelerator pressed, motor accelerates car in backward direction
  • You can use it when moving slowly forward, to reverse direction without stopping
• N - Motors do not accelerate car in either direction
• D - When accelerator pressed, motor or engine accelerates car in forward direction
  • You can use it when moving slowly backward, to reverse direction without stopping

What commentators find confusing, is that it isn't a lever that you move forward or backward, requiring you to either look at the indicator or count notches. Instead, it's easy-to-find buttons when you are moving and don't want to look.

• The P and N are buttons you need to look at to find - but then, you aren't moving, so that's no big deal.
• R is an indented button that is found easily by swiping your hand down along the panel in a - wait for it - backward direction.
• D has a huge, self-centering rim that makes it easy to find by just placing a finger anywhere near it.
• L? We ain't got no L. We don't need no L. I don't have to push any stinkin' L!

I admit it took about a week to get used to it. But I've never had a simpler, easier-to-use shifter. Just yesterday I had to make a seven-point turn to reverse the direction of the car in a tight parking lot. I didn't need brakes, stopping, or lever-moving. Just toggling between two buttons with my foot off of the pedals (actually, ready to brake if needed).

 

[metcalfjohn]

Actually, from top to bottom it is:

• P - Car doesn't move
• R - When accelerator pressed, motor accelerates car in backward direction
  • You can use it when moving slowly forward, to reverse direction without stopping
• N - Motors do not accelerate car in either direction
• D - When accelerator pressed, motor or engine accelerates car in forward direction
  • You can use it when moving slowly backward, to reverse direction without stopping

[…]
I admit it took about a week to get used to it. But I've never had a simpler, easier-to-use shifter. Just yesterday I had to make a seven-point turn to reverse the direction of the car in a tight parking lot. I didn't need brakes, stopping, or lever-moving. Just toggling between two buttons with my foot off of the pedals (actually, ready to brake if needed).

It would never have occurred to me to try to shift directly into opposite modes while the vehicle is moving, so I checked the manual. Page 475:

When you change D to R and vice versa, come to a complete stop and keep the brake pedal depressed. Operating the shift button before the vehicle has come to a complete standstill can damage the transmission.

 

[williamsji]

The true reality is that the 2.0 Atkinson engine only ever directly engages with the drive wheels when the vehicle is traveling at essentially freeway speeds in cruise mode and when it does engage it is a single gear ratio. Think of this more like a single "overdrive" gear as when the engine does engage.. the electric drive motors remain engaged as well.

The rest of the time, the engine powers generators which then power the electric motors that drive the wheels, except for rare exceptions where the tiny little buffer battery is allowed to drive the vehicle in a true E-drive for a few miles at a time.

So the e-CVT terminology is itself kind of misleading.. but once the owner reads through the documentation.. they usually understand it and get that the actual gear shift buttons on the center console are electronic and largely fake as far as CVT nomenclature are concerned in any traditional sense. It would be most accurate to say that what Honda calls e-CVT is actually just a drive select for P, R N, D. Ergonomically though.. Honda has designed the button assembly such that owners generally would need to deliberately create a hazard condition of R->D or D->R on purpose.

This is all more complex on the CRV compared to the Accord hybrids.. due to AWD for the CRV.. the entire approach and design concept is essentially the same otherwise.

 

[williamsji]

So why are reviewers not bothered by Toyota's "CVT" as much as Honda's[1]? I think it is the fact that the Toyota has an alternate name. Honda would have done better to have provided either a similar alternate name, or called it something else entirely. Like a "vCVT", for "virtual CVT."

As DarkKnight points out to us often.. most reviewers of motor vehicles are clowns, in clown suits, pretending to be driving clown cars in a clown dominated circus commonly known as "the internet". And I an not at all inclined to disagree with him, 'cause he is largely correct.

The reality is that many modern vehicles no longer have shift levers.. but have moved on to electronic shift button clusters.. most especially "ze Germans". So.. nothing about them should at all be considered some rocket science challenge for reviewers.

And in fact.. I believe even the mechanical shift lever in the non-hybrid gen5 CRVs is also fake. It too performs electronic control of the CVT... not mechanical control. But it moves like a old school shifter and the driving outcomes are the same.. so reviewers seem to just skip past this as though they were shifting a 67 Mustang (vehicle choice just for you Kloker).

 

[Coldhonda]

You can use it when moving slowly forward, to reverse direction without stopping.

Can a car or any object really reverse direction without stopping? 😉